System and method for communicating video of a sporting event

ABSTRACT

A system and method for processing video of a sporting event may include receiving image data being captured real-time from an electronic device. The image data may be portions of complete image data of unknown length while being captured by the electronic device. The image data portions may be processed to identify at least one unique identifier associated with a player in the sporting event. Successive video segments may be stitched together. The receiving, processing, and stitching of the image data may be repeated until an end of video identifier is received. The completed stitched video may be stored for processing.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional application of co-pending U.S. patentapplication having Ser. No. 15/052,728 filed on Feb. 24, 2016 and issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 9,583,144 on Feb. 28, 2017, which claims priority toprovisional patent application Ser. No. 62/120,127 filed on Feb. 24,2015, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

BACKGROUND

Sports has a wide range of players, levels, supporters, and fans.Players may range from beginners (e.g., 4 years old and higher) toprofessionals. The levels of sports teams may range from beginnersthrough professionals. Supporters of sports teams and players mayinclude family members, assistants, volunteers, former players, andcoaches. Fans may include family members and people who like the sport,team, or team members.

Coaches and players often find reviewing practice and game video footageuseful in helping players and teams improve their performance. In thecase of an individual player, video footage of the individual player'sactions is beneficial to view so that the individual player can see whathe or she did well and not so well.

With low-funded teams (e.g., non-professional teams), video editors whocan review video footage to identify specific segments related tospecific players is generally not an option due to cost. Moreover, evenif a video editor is willing to work at no or low cost, the amount oftime needed to create video segments for specific players is not alwaysfeasible due to games being long and manually reviewing the footage toidentify the specific players in specific video segments is difficult,especially when there are multiple players who enter and exit videoscenes.

Beyond the obvious use of the video footage to assist players andcoaches in improving skills and teamwork, families and friends of aplayer often like to view the player during a game without having towatch or fast forward through an entire game, but rather be able to seethe player when he or she is “in action.” Additionally, video scrapbooksor gifts for family, such as grandparents who live far away, are oftendesired, but tend to be costly due to tedious editing processes thatcurrently exist. Moreover, for gifted athletes who want to provide videoclips to prospective colleges or professional teams, or scouts ofprofessional teams looking for gifted athletes, creation of qualityvideo segments that meet their respective needs is a time consumingprocess.

For amateur sports, there is a desire to view the players from multipleangles and from unique angles (e.g., from goal viewpoint, overhead,sidelines, home team side, away team side). However, the availability ofcollecting such video footage is not possible for a variety of reasons,and establishing a coordinated control structure for such a videoproduction is generally not financially possible.

Hence, there is a need for a system and process (i) to expediteidentification of players on sports teams in video footage, (ii) tocapture video footage of sport teams from multiple mobile recordingdevices, possibly disparate recording devices, and from differentangles, and (iii) to synthesize and organize video footage, optionallyin real-time, that is cost effective.

SUMMARY

To provide for a cost effective and expedited process to gather videosat games from multiple video recording devices, such as mobile deviceswith video recording capabilities (e.g., smart phone), to identifyplayers on sports teams in video footage, character recognitionfunctionality capable of identifying player numbers on jerseys or otheritems (e.g., vehicles) that are visible within video footage may beutilized to identify players and flag or otherwise identify videofootage. By using character or other identifier recognition, anautomated video editor to generate video footage clips with one or morespecific players within video content of a video may be enabled. In oneembodiment, a real-time process may be used to process the video contentthat is being captured. Alternatively, a post-processing process may beutilized. As a player's number may be visible and non-visible during aparticular segment during which the player is still in the scene (e.g.,when the player turns sideways or backwards to the camera), an algorithmto specify tracking rules or a tracking system may be used to track theplayer's head and/or other features so that video clips in which theplayer is in the video may be identified.

In capturing the video, and in one embodiment, a mobile app may beavailable for users who attend sporting event to download to a mobiledevice. The mobile app may enable video to be captured and uploaded. Inusing the mobile app, an actual and/or relative timestamp may be appliedto video content captured by users at a sporting event, thereby enablingthe video content captured by multiple users to be synchronized. Bymultiple users, such as family members, team staff, or otherwise, thevideo content may be captured at multiple angles and used for editingpurposes.

In an embodiment, a system for processing video of a sporting event mayinclude an input/output unit configured to communicate over acommunications network and receive image data, a storage unit configuredto store image data captured by multiple users of a single event, and aprocessing unit in communication with the input/output unit and storageunit. The processing unit may be configured to receive image data beingcaptured real-time from an electronic device. The image data may beportions of complete image data of unknown length while being capturedby the electronic device. The image data portions may be processed toidentify at least one unique identifier associated with a player in thesporting event. Successive video segments may be stitched together. Thereceiving, processing, and stitching of the image data may be repeateduntil an end of video identifier is received. The completed stitchedvideo may be stored in the storage unit for processing.

One embodiment of a method for processing video of a sporting event mayinclude receiving image data being captured real-time from an electronicdevice. The image data may be portions of complete image data of unknownlength while being captured by the electronic device. The image dataportions may be processed to identify at least one unique identifierassociated with a player in the sporting event. Successive videosegments may be stitched together. The receiving, processing, andstitching of the image data may be repeated until an end of videoidentifier is received. The completed stitched video may be stored forprocessing.

In one embodiment, the system may enable a user to enter a particularplayer number and the system may identify all video frames and/orsegments in which the player wearing that number and optionally color ofthe uniform of the player appears so that the user may step to thosevideo frames and/or segments. If there are multiple, continuous framesin which the player wearing the number is identified, the system mayrecord the first frame of each of the continuous frames so that the usercan quickly step through each different scene. For example, in the caseof football, each line-up in which a player participates may beidentified. If a sport, such as soccer, is such that the player's numbertends to be visible and non-visible during a play simply because of thenature of the sport, then the system may use a tracking system toidentify when the player (not the player's number) is visible in a videoclip, thereby identifying entire segments during which a player is partof the action. In one embodiment, an algorithm may be utilized to keeprecording for certain number of frames/seconds between identificationsof a player.

In one aspect, in response to identifying a particular number on auniform of a player, a notification may be generated and sent to one ormore mobile devices participating in a group at a sporting event toalert fans of action involving one or more players. If a mobile app thatoperates as a social network, for example, is being used by fans at agame, then each of the fans using the app may set search criteria sothat in the event of another fan at the game capturing video contentwith that search criteria, a notification may be sent to the fan whosent the search criteria and be able to download that video content toview the video content that matched the search criteria. In oneembodiment, the search criteria may include player number, team nameand/or uniform colors, action type, video capture location (e.g., hometeam side, visitor team side, end zone, yard line, etc.).

One embodiment of a system for processing video of a sporting event mayinclude an input/output unit configured to communicate over acommunications network and receive image data. A storage unit may beconfigured to store image data captured by a plurality of users of asingle event. A processing unit may be in communication with theinput/output unit and the storage unit. The processing unit may beconfigured to receive image data being captured real-time from anelectronic device, the image data being portions of complete image dataof unknown length while being captured by the electronic device. Theimage data portions may be processed to identify at least one uniqueidentifier associated with a player in the sporting event. Successivevideo segments may be stitched together. The receiving, processing, andstitching of the image data may be repeated until an end of videoidentifier is received. The completed stitched video may be stored inthe storage unit for processing.

One method for creating a sports video may include receiving video of asporting event inclusive of players with unique identifiers on theirrespective uniforms. At least one unique identifier of the players inthe video may be identified. Video segments may be defined from thevideo inclusive of the at least one unique identifier. Video segmentsinclusive of the at least one unique identifier may be caused to beindividually available for replay.

One method for generating video content may include receiving multiplevideo content segments of a sporting event from video capture devices,the video capture devices operating to crowd source video content. Aplayer in one or more of the video content segments may be identified.At least a portion of video content inclusive of the player may beextracted from the one or more video content segments with the player,and be available for viewing by a user.

One method for sharing video of a sports event may include receiving, bya processing unit via a communications network, a request inclusive ofat least one search parameter from a video capture device. Video contentbeing received by a plurality of video capture devices at the sportsevent may be processed to identify video content from any of the videocapture devices at the sports event inclusive of the at least one searchparameter. Responsive to identifying video content inclusive of the atleast one search parameter, video content may be communicated by theprocessing unit via the communications network to the video capturedevice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described indetail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which areincorporated by reference herein and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an illustrative scene inclusive of a sportsplaying field;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a network environment in which crowdsourced video of a sporting event is captured and processed;

FIG. 3 is an image of an illustrative scene in which a player, in thiscase a soccer player, is shown to be running on a playing field;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an illustrative network environment shownto include a video capture device, such as a smart phone, beingconfigured with a mobile app that enables a user of the video capturedevice to capture video content, and provide for extracting particularvideo content desired by the user;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of an illustrative sports video indicative ofvideo segments that include a particular player wearing a particularplayer number;

FIG. 6A is an illustration of three videos A, B, and C that werecaptured from three different video cameras, camera A, camera B, andcamera C;

FIG. 6B is an illustration of an extracted video shown to include videosegments B1, A2, and B3, which were originally in videos A and B of FIG.6A;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of illustrative app modules that may beexecuted on a mobile device;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of illustrative application modules that maybe executed on a server;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process for processing andcreating an extracted video with particular search parameters;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process for crowd sourcingvideo content;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process used to create avideo from video segments;

FIGS. 12A and 12B is an illustration of a video capture device, such asa smart phone, that includes an electronic display to be executing anapplication for capturing and creating extracted video based on one ormore search parameters;

FIG. 13 is a screenshot of an illustrative user interface that providesfor selecting a particular action, player, play type, and/or otherparameters from a user's or crowd sourced video of a sporting event;

FIG. 14A is an illustration of a video capture device or otherelectronic device that may be configured to display an illustrativegraphical user interface inclusive of videos captured by a spectator andavailable for instant replay;

FIG. 14B is an illustration of the video recording device displaying auser interface, where the user has selectably changed the view from an“instant replay” view to a “live streaming” view by selecting the videofeed type soft-button; and

FIG. 14C is an illustration of the video recording device presentinguser interface, where the user interface includes a video display regionfor video content to be displayed.

FIG. 15 is a screenshot of an illustrative user interface for a coach tosign-up and select a roster for the team;

FIG. 16 is a screenshot of an illustrative user interface for a playerto sign-up and select or submit player information, including jerseynumber and team name via respective user interface input elements;

FIG. 17 is a screenshot of an illustrative user interface for a fan orother user to sign-up and select player(s) to follow;

FIG. 18A is a screen shot of an illustrative user interface inclusive ofillustrative video feeds are shown to enable a user to view one or morevideos of a player captured during a sporting event;

FIG. 18B is a screen shot of an illustrative user interface inclusive ofthe video feeds of FIG. 18A;

FIG. 19 is a screen shot of an illustrative user interface that enablesa user to assign one or more hashtags to a video segment or clip;

FIGS. 20A-20F are screen shots of an illustrative user interface isshown to enable a user to create an event, such as a soccer game;

FIGS. 21A-21C are screenshots of an illustrative user interface that mayprovide for a user to browse content collected at one or more events byselecting an “athletes” soft-button, “videos” soft-button, and“hashtags” soft-button;

FIGS. 22A-22C are screenshots of user interfaces that may provide forsearching for videos; and

FIG. 23 is a user interface that may provide for a video editingenvironment in which video clips taken by different users at differentangles may be listed along a first axis and time of the video clips maybe along a second axis.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With regard to FIG. 1, an illustration of an illustrative scene 100inclusive of a sports playing field 102 is shown. The sports playingfield 102 includes two teams of players 104 a and 104 b (collectively104) playing thereon. As understood in the art, players of sports teamstypically wear jerseys or uniforms inclusive of numbers and/or otheridentifiers. As shown, the players of the two teams 104 are matched upagainst one another. It should be understood that other aspects includevideo recording a team practice, where players from only a single teamare recorded while playing on the sports playing field 102. As istypically the case, fans, supporters, spectators, team management, orotherwise record video of the teams who are playing. As shown, videorecording devices 106 a-106 n (collectively 106) that are positioned atdifferent angles around the field 102 may be used to capture or recordvideo of the teams 104 during a game. The video capture devices 106 maybe the same or disparate mobile devices, such a smart phones, tablets,video cameras (e.g., GoPros®), or any other video capture device thatmay be networked or non-networked, but be capable of uploading videocontent in any manner, as understood in the art. Video recording devices106 c and 106 n may be respectively mounted to goalposts 108 at a north(N) end and south (S) end of the sports playing field 102.

With regard to FIG. 2, an illustration of a network environment 200 inwhich crowd sourced video or user generated content of a sporting eventis captured and processed is shown. The network environment 200 includesthe video capture devices 106 that may capture raw video content orvideo 202 a-202 n (collectively 202), and communicate the raw videocontent 202 via a communications network 204 (e.g., WiFi, cellular,and/or Internet) to a server 206. Because mobile devices are able tocapture data in high-resolution, the size of video or video data filesthese days can be quite large (e.g., several megabytes). As a result,the amount of time and bandwidth needed to upload the video data filescan be considerable. Rather than waiting for a user to complete a video,which is unknown in size before completed, so as to operate in a morereal-time basis, one embodiment of an app being executed by the videocapture devices 106 may include communicating the captured video 202 ona periodic (e.g., every 5 or 10 seconds) or aperiodic basis (e.g.,responsive to an event occurring), but prior to completion of recordingof an entire video.

As an example, a 2-minute video 202 n′ is shown to be captured andstored in video capture device 106 n. In one embodiment, while capturingthe video 202 n′, short (e.g., 10-second) video segments 202 n″ (i.e.,portions of a complete video of unknown length while being captured) maybe communicated via the network 204 to the server 206. The server 206may, in one embodiment, process the video segments 202 n″ as received.In an alternative embodiment, rather than uploading the video 202 n′ ina real-time manner, app on the video capture device 106 n may beconfigured to capture the entire video 202 n′ and send multiple, shortvideo segments 202 n″, such as 10-seconds (10 s), via the communicationsnetwork 204 to server 206. The server 206 may be configured to receivethe video segments 202 n″ and to “stitch” the video segments 202 n″ intothe full-length video 202 n′. In one embodiment, an end video code oridentifier may be communicated with the last video segment thatcompletes a full video so that the server 206 may determine that thevideo is complete and store the completed video. In addition toproviding a more real-time process, but sending the video segments 202n″ while recording, other processing and communications may be performedduring the recording and communication processes.

Moreover, because the video content that is captured may behigh-resolution (e.g., 1080p), the amount of extra data that is to besent as compared to a lower resolution, such as 640p or 720p, issignificant, especially for longer videos. In the event that theapplication is capturing humans, which do not move relatively fast overa 1-second timeframe, one aspect may capture the video content at ahigher resolution, but communicate the content at a lower resolution,thereby provide video quality that is acceptable to view, but utilizeslower bandwidth, takes less time to communicate, and consumes lessmemory at the server and when viewed on other devices after editing.However, because an image processing algorithm(s) performed by theserver may have improved performance with higher resolution, especiallyfor number and color identification, reducing the resolution may alsoreduce performance of the image process. To provide for improvedperformance of the image processing algorithm(s) while simultaneouslyaccommodating the communication and memory capacity performance, oneembodiment provides for communicating one or more frames per second atthe high-resolution or key frames 202 n′″, and video 202 n″ at a lowerresolution. In one aspect, the video capture devices 106 may beconfigured to communicate every 12th frame (e.g., one per ½ second ifframe capture rate is 24 frames per second) as high-resolution (e.g.,1080p) images 202 n′″, and the video 202 n″ at lower resolution. In theevent that the sport being imaged is a sport that players move fasterthan running, such as skiing, skating (e.g., hockey), car racing, etc.,higher frame rates (e.g., 4 high-resolution frames per second or every 6frames if the video capture rate is 24 or 25 frames per second) of thehigh-resolution frames 202 n′″ may be communicated along with the lowerresolution video 202 n″. If every 12th frame 202 n′″ is ahigh-resolution frame and the frame capture rate is 24 frames persecond, then a 10-second video includes 20 high-resolution frames 202n′″. The 20 high-resolution frames 202 n′″ may be included in the videosegments 202 n″ being communicated or separate from the video segments202 n″. It should be understood that other video capture rates andindividual high-resolution image rates may be utilized based on avariety of factors, including type of sport, amount of communicationbandwidth, storage capacity, or otherwise.

The server 206 may be configured to identify video segments that complywith search parameters to form an extracted video 208 as desired byusers of the video capture devices 106 or other users, such as familymembers of players of sports teams. The extracted video 208 may includevideo content that complies with input search parameter(s) by a userthat includes a player identifier of a sports team. In one embodiment,the server 206 may be configured to identify a player wearing aparticular number on his or her jersey, and extract video content orvideo segments inclusive of the jersey with the particular number. Inone aspect, the server 206 may be configured to extract video with aplayer having certain jersey colors, such as blue with white writing,such as numbers. The server 206 may also be configured to extract videothat matches a particular action identifiable by a user generated and/orautomatically generated tag associated with video content. As shown, alive stream 210 may be communicated from the server to one or more ofthe video capture devices 106 that request to receive video from othersof the video capture devices 106, as further described with regard toFIGS. 14A-14C.

With regard to FIG. 3, an image of an illustrative scene 300 in which aplayer 302, in this case a soccer player, is shown to be running on aplaying field. The player 302 has an identifier 304, in this case number“10,” on his uniform that has dark writing on a light uniform. Theplayer 302 is shown to be dribbling a soccer ball 306, and being chasedby players 308 on another team, generally wearing different coloruniforms, trying to take the soccer ball 306 from the player 302. Aswill be described further herein, a system may be configured to (1)identify a player wearing a particular identifier, such as number “10,”and (2) being in “the action,” such as being near a ball (e.g.,football, soccer ball, basketball), or other sports item. Rather thanbeing automatically identified, a crowd edited process for identifyingaction(s) by players may be performed in a semi-automated or manualmanner, as further described herein.

With regard to FIG. 4, an illustration of an illustrative networkenvironment 400 is shown to include a video capture device 402 a, suchas a smart phone, being configured with a mobile app that enables a userof the video capture device 402 a to capture video content, and have theability to extract or cause to extract particular video content desiredby the user. The video capture device 402 may include an electronicdisplay 404 on which user interface 406 may be displayed. The userinterface 406 is shown to include an image 407 of a player on a playingfield, for example. Control buttons 408 a, 408 b, and 408 c(collectively 408) are shown to enable the user to take a video, share avideo, and create or request a composite or extracted video,respectively. A composite video is video formed of one or more videoclips or segments (or references to timestamps within one or more videoclips or segments) that combined form a video that may be viewed by auser. It should be understood that additional and/or alternative controlelements 408 may be available via the mobile app being executed by thevideo capture device 402 a, as well. As understood in the art, the appmay be downloaded from an app store or other network location.

The video capture device 402 a may be configured to communicate video410 (i.e., video content in a digital data format) and timestamps 412representative of times that the video 410 is captured. The video 410may be in the form of video clips (e.g., less than 2 minutes in lengthor be a full, continuous video of an entire sporting event). In oneembodiment, an app on the video capture device 402 a may be configuredto record actual times or relative times at which video is captured, andthose times may be associated with the video 410. The video 410 andtimestamps 412 may be communicated via a communications network 414 to aserver 416. The server 416 may include a processing unit 418, which mayinclude one or more computer processors, including general processor(s),image processor(s), signal processor(s), etc., that execute software420. The processing unit 418 may be in communication with a memory unit422, input/output (I/O) unit 424, and storage unit 426 on which one ormore data repositories 428 a-428 n (collectively 428) may be stored. Thevideo 410 and timestamps 412 may be received by the processing unit 418,and processed thereby to generate an extracted video 430 based onparameters, such as player identifier, action type, or any otherparameter, as desired by a user of the video capture device 402 a orotherwise. The video 410 and timestamps 412 may be stored in the datarepositories 428 by the processing unit 418, and the extracted video 430may be communicated via the I/O unit 424 to the video capture device 402a for display thereon.

In one embodiment, the software 420 may be configured to store video 410in the data repositories 428 in a manner that the video operates asreference video for the extracted video 430. That is, rather than makingcopies of the video 410 stored in the data repositories 428 forindividual users, the video 410 may be referenced using computerpointers or indices, as understood in the art, to refer to a memorylocation or timestamp in the source video so that duplicate copies ofthe video 410 are not needed. The extracted video 430 may be copies ofsubsections of the video 410 or entire video that is accompanied withpointers or timestamps (not shown) to point to sections of the videothat meet criteria of the user who receives the extracted video 430.Rather than communicating copies of video in file form, the video may bestreamed to the video capture 402 a.

In one embodiment, additional video capture devices 402 may beconfigured to capture video in the same or similar manner as the videocapture device 402 a, and the server 416 may be configured to receiveand process video captured by multiple video capture devices to generatea crowd sourced video, where the crowd sourced video may include videoclips or content segments from different angles at a sporting event. Thecrowd sourced video may be a single video file inclusive of video clipsavailable from the crowd sourced video clips or video clips that matchsearch parameter(s), as further described herein. In one embodiment, inaddition to communicating video 410 and timestamps 412, additionalinformation, such as geographic location or identifier of a field orsporting event may be generated and communicated by the video capturedevice 402 a to the server 416, so that multiple video capture devices402 that are recording video at the same event may be associated andstored with one another for processing by the server 416. For example,the app may be configured to enable the user to create or select a nameof a sporting event at a particular geographic location that isoccurring, such as Norwood Mustangs versus Needham Rockets at NorwoodHigh School Field, and that information may be uploaded, with or withoutvideo and timestamp information, to a server so that other users who arealso at the same game, such as a high school football game, may be ableto select the name of the event from a selectable list of games beingplayed at a geographic location given that multiple games are oftenplayed at a single park or field, for example.

As is further described herein, video or video clips 410 may becollected by multiple users and video capture devices 402. The videoclips 410 may be stored by the server 416 that enables the users toaccess the video clips 410 for producing crowd edited video. In crowdediting, the video clips 430 may be communicated to or otherwiseaccessed by the users to view and associate hashtags 432 or otheridentifiers that enable users to perform more accurate searching andmore easily produce composite videos. In an alternative embodiment, theserver 416 may be configured to semi-automatically or automatically tagvideo clips with hashtags.

With regard to FIG. 5, an illustration of an illustrative video 500 isshown. The video 500 is captured from camera A, and includes a number ofvideo segments, A₁, A₂, and A₃, in which a player wearing the number “7”on his or her jersey, which has a color scheme that may optionally beused for identification purposes, is captured. Video segment A₁ is 8seconds long and extends between timestamps T₁ and T₂. Video segment A₂is 12 seconds long and extends between timestamps T₃ and T₄. Videosegment A₃ is 4 seconds long and extends between timestamps T₅ and T₆.The video segments between timestamps T₂ and T₃, and T₄ and T₅ may bedetermined to not include video footage of the player wearing number “7”on his or her uniform. As will be described further herein, the user maydesire to have a video created that includes only video segments A₁, A₂,and A₃, thereby shortening his or her review time of, or focusing on,all the plays in which player wearing number “7” was captured. Anextracted video (not shown) that includes only the video segments A₁,A₂, and A₃ may be created. In one embodiment, short fade-to-black orother transition video segments may be displayed between video segmentsA₁, A₂, and A₃. Alternatively, pauses between video segments A₁, A₂, andA₃ may be set to enable a user to selectively continue watching or not.

With regard to FIG. 6A, an illustration of three videos A, B, and C thatwere captured from three different video cameras, camera A, camera B,and camera C, are shown. In each of the videos, video segments includingplayer wearing jersey number “7” were captured. In video A, videosegments A₁, A₂, and A₃ include a player wearing jersey number “7.” Invideo B, video segments B₁, B₂, and B₃ includes content with the playerwearing jersey number “7,” and in video C, video segments C₁, C₂, and C₃include video content with player number “7.” In one embodiment, thevideos 600 may be communicated to a central location, such as a server,so that a crowd sourced video can be produced. In another embodiment,the crowd sourced video may include the longest, best, most actionfilled, or simply include the player wearing jersey number “7.” Tagsapplied to the videos 600 may be used in identifying video clips andassembling an aggregated or extracted video or presenting the identifiedvideo clips.

With regard to FIG. 6B, an extracted video 602 is shown to include videosegments B₁, A₂, and B₃, which were originally in videos A and B of FIG.6A. Each of the video segments B₁, A₂, and B₃ were determined to be thelongest video segments and/or least shaking, most in focus, etc. inwhich the player with identifier number “7” on his or her uniform wascaptured in the three videos of FIG. 6A. Between video segments B₁, A₂,and B₃, transition video segments TR₁, TR₂, and TR₃, are shown. Thesetransition video segments may be utilized to make the video moreaesthetically pleasing to a viewer. The transition segments TR₁, TR₂,and TR₃ may be fade-to-black or any other video transition segment, asunderstood in the art. In one embodiment, the video segments B₁, A₂, andB₃ or video segments in which the player is carrying or near the ball,basket, goal, or any other location on a sports field, as furtherdescribed herein.

With regard to FIG. 7, a block diagram of modules 700 of a mobile deviceapp is shown. The modules may be executed by a processor of the mobiledevice, such as a smart phone, and may be utilized to capture video,communicate video, process video, and perform a variety of otherfunctions for a user of the mobile device. In this instance, the mobiledevice operates as a video capture device utilizing the mobile app. Inan alternative embodiment, the mobile device simply uses a conventionalvideo capture application, and the video captured may be communicated toa server for processing thereat. It should be understood that the mobileapp may be resident or not resident (e.g., cloud based) on the mobiledevice.

The module 700 may include a user interface module 702 that provides theuser with interactive functionality via a touchscreen or other userinterface on a mobile device, as understood in the art. The userinterface module 702 may operate as a conventional application that, inthis case, enables video capturing, video management, and videoprocessing or establishing search parameters or criteria for videoprocessing to be performed. For example, the user interface module 702may provide a user interface element that enables the user to select anumber of a player on a particular team along with a minimum amount oftime for the player to be in a scene or performing a particular type ofplay (e.g., batting). The module 702 may also provide for a user toreview video clips and assign one or more tags to the video clips.

A video capture module 704 may be configured to enable the user tocapture video utilizing the app. In one embodiment, rather than the appproviding the video capture capability, the app may utilize a standardvideo capture application on a mobile device, and allow the user toaccess or import the video that was captured on the mobile device.

A video upload module 706 may be configured to enable a user to uploadvideo that was captured on the mobile device. The video upload module706 may enable the user to select some or all of the video that the usercaptured during a game. In operation, the video upload module 706 may beconfigured to upload in small (e.g., 5 or 10 second increments) as thevideo is being captured, as previously described with regard to FIG. 2,so that the video upload process can be performed in a substantiallyreal-time basis. As previously described, by uploading the video as itis being captured, the mobile device can perform other communicationtasks between the uploads of the video and a server may process thevideo segments as received. In an alternative embodiment, the video(e.g., 2-minutes) may be fully captured and sent in smaller segments(e.g., 10 second segments). A selectable setting may be set by a user ofthe mobile device for how the video is to be uploaded. By uploadingvideo content in short segments or segment fragments (e.g., 5 or 10second segments), the mobile device may be able to perform additionalcommunications operations between uploads. Moreover, because somecommunications networks limit length of video uploads, sending portionsof the video may allow for a video that exceed network length or sizelimits to be uploaded. The module 706 may apply tags or otheridentifiers to the video segments to indicate whether a video segmentbeing uploaded is the start of a new video, continuation of previousvideo segment(s), or last video segment. Moreover, the video segmentsmay be encrypted or otherwise encoded to limit the ability for video tobe intercepted and accessed by someone not authorized to view the video.

As previously described, the video may be high-resolution video (e.g.,1080p), which takes a lot of bandwidth, power, time, and resources toupload from a mobile device and process using image processing. As aresult, the module 706 may be configured to upload the video in a lowerresolution, such as 640p or 720p. Since image processing by a server toidentify certain features in a video may be improved by using higherresolution, the module 706 may be configured to have one frameperiodically or aperiodically be high-resolution or extract key framesor sequence of images and communicated separate from a lower resolutionvideo derived from the high-resolution video. In one embodiment, a blurrating of a high-resolution image frame may be determined by measuringstraightness of a straight line or other measurement technique and, ifthe blur rating is below a threshold, send the high-resolution imageframe, otherwise, not send the high-resolution image frame and continuetesting successive image frames until one passes before sending. Themodule 706 may determine or be set to keep a frame high-resolution orsend separate still images with high-resolution based on a sport oraction being recorded. As an example, every 12th frame (if frame rate is25 frames per second) may be communicated along with or within a videobeing sent at a lower resolution (e.g., 720p), thereby enabling imageprocessing to be performed on the high-resolution frames. In sending thehigh-resolution frames, an indicator, such as a timestamp, thatcorresponds to a frame in the lower resolution video, may be provided toenable processing or tagging of the lower resolution video based onidentification of content in the high-resolution images.

In one embodiment, the video upload module 706 may enable to user toapply a name, geographic location, and/or other indicia to be inassociation with the video, thereby enabling the user and/or server toidentify the location, game, or any other information at a later pointin time. The information may be established prior to the uploadingprocess, as further described herein. In one embodiment, theidentification information may be utilized to crowd source the videowith other video that was captured at the same sporting event. If theuser elects to participate in a temporary (e.g., for the game) or longerterm (e.g., for the season of a team) social media environment, thevideo upload module may operate to stream data being recorded to aserver for real-time processing and/or distribution to other users inthe social media environment (e.g., other users at the game).

A video manager 708 may enable the user to review one more videos, storethe videos in a particular fashion, identify the videos throughtimestamps, categories, locations, or any other organizationaltechnique, as understood in the art. The video manager 708 may also beconfigured to identify and store information identified in the video ina real-time or post-processing manner so that the parameters may becommunicate to the server for processing. In an alternative manner, theprocessing may be performed by the server.

A composite video request module 710 may be configured to enable a userto request a composite or extracted video. The module 710 may provide auser with parameter settings that the user may select and/or set tocause a composite video to be created inclusive of matching orconforming content using those parameters. For example, the module 710may enable the user to select a particular identifier of a player, aparticular action by the player, a particular distance from a ball, aminimum amount of time in a video clip, and so forth. Measurements ofdistance may be made by using a standard sized object, such as a ball,to determine scale and distance of a player to an object.

A player request module 712 may enable the user to request a player byan identifier on the player's jersey. The module 712 may be incorporatedinto or be separate from the module 710.

An extract video module 714 may be configured to utilize the inputsearch parameters selected by the user, and utilize image processing to(i) identify video segments within which content that satisfies theparameters or criteria are met, and (ii) set timestamps, pointers, orother indices at the start and end of video segments identified asmeeting the parameters. In an alternative embodiment, rather thensetting timestamps, pointers, or other indices, video segments may becopied and storage separate from the raw video, and used in creating andextracted video inclusive of one or more video segments in which contentsatisfies parameters set by the user.

A share video module 716 may be configured to enable a user to sharevideo, raw video and/or extracted video, that he or she captured withother users. In one embodiment, the video may be shared with a limitedgroup, such as friends, family, or other users at a particular sportingevent. Alternatively, the share video module 716 may enable the user toshare video in a public forum. In sharing the video, the module 716 maycommunicate the video to a server for further distribution. If the userhas agreed to share video in a manner that enables the video to beprocessed and used as a crowd sourced video for editing purposes, thenshare video module 716 may communicate a portion or all of the video toa server. If the mobile device app is configured to perform certaintypes of processing, then the video that is shared by module 716 may bein video segments that meet particular criteria being requested by otherusers or an administrator. Still yet, the share video module 716 may beconfigured to work with the video upload module 706 in sharing video inreal-time or other sharing arrangement(s).

A social media interface module 718 may enable the user to upload someor all of the video that the user has captured to social media (e.g.,user account on FaceBook®). The module 718 may be configured to simplyenable the user to select a social media account, and the module 718 mayupload desired video or any other information to the social mediaaccount for posting thereon. The social media interface module 718 maybe configured to manage social media accounts. In one embodiment, thesocial media interface module 718 may be configured to manage temporarysocial media network events, where a temporary social media networkevent may be a social media network set up on a per game or per seasonbasis.

A select roster module 720 may enable a user, such as a coach, to selecta roster of players on a team to define player positions on the team.The players on the roster may be assigned player numbers that are to beon their respective uniforms. The roster may enable users to more easilyselect players by users who are following a team.

An apply hashtags module 722 may be configured to automatically,semi-automatically, or manually enable a user to apply one or morehashtags to a video content segment or clip. In applying the hashtags,video content segments may be provided to the user after capturing thevideo clips and prior to communicating the video clips to a networkedserver or provided by the networked server for tagging by user(s), asfurther described herein. The module 722 may provide the user withsoft-buttons, for example, for the user to select to identify action(s)and/or object(s) within the video content segment(s).

With regard to FIG. 8, a block diagram of illustrative modules 800 thatmay be executed on a server is shown. The modules 800 may be utilized toreceive, process, and extract video so as to create an extracted videoas desired by a user.

The modules 800 made include a mobile device interface module 802 thatenables the server to communicate with one or more mobile devices tosupport a user interface, upload or download video, or perform otherfunctions with mobile devices or other electronic devices, such ascomputers configured to process video content. The module 802 may beconfigured to receive video segments in a real-time or semi-real-timebasis while a user is capturing a video and store the video segments ina manner that additional video segments of the same video can beappended or “stitched” to the previous video segment(s). Alternativeconfigurations may be utilized depending on how the mobile device thatis sending the video to the server is configured. As an example, thevideo segment may be received after the video is completely recorded andthen sent in 10 second video segments, but not necessarily with 10seconds between each of the segments, as is performed when communicatingthe video segments during capture of the video. Yet another videotransfer mode may allow for the video to be communicated and received asa whole.

In one embodiment, the module 802 may be configured to receive videocontent that is lower resolution than the resolution of the raw videocontent captured by the mobile device to reduce upload time, datastorage consumption, and processing. As understood in the art,resolution at 640p or 720p on small screens is suitable for mostapplications. However, image processing to identify certain featureswithin image frames or key frames is improved when performed on imageframes with higher resolution (e.g., 1080p). Hence, high-resolutionimages that are separate from the video or embedded within the video maybe received and processed for identifying specific content, such asplayer numbers on jerseys. Depending on the speed of content beingimaged, the frequency of the high-resolution images may vary. In oneembodiment, the high-resolution images may be tagged with a timestamp orother identifier that corresponds to a location in a video segment,thereby allowing for marking or otherwise processing the video based onimage processing of the high-resolution images.

A video extraction parameters module 804 may be configured to identifyparameters that may be used to define specific video content beingsought by a user. For example, the extraction or search parameters mayinclude player number, amount of time player is in a segment, proximityof the player to a ball or other region on a playing field, orotherwise. The parameters may be communicated from a mobile device orotherwise to the server, and the module 804 may utilize that informationin processing the video to produce an extracted or composite video. Inone embodiment, the video extraction parameters module 804 may beconfigured to process the key frames (e.g., high-resolution imagesperiodically derived from high-resolution video), as opposed to thevideo that may be in lower resolution than the key frames, to determinecontent in the key frames. As an example, if player numbers are beingsearched, the key frames may be used to determine whether a player is ina particular portion of the video by determining that the player numberassociated with the player is in the key frames. If, however, adetermination is made that a player number is in one frame and then asuccessive frame one-half second later does not show the player numberin the image, then a determination may be made as to whether the playersimply turned, left the frame, or multiple video segments exist. Otherreasons for a player number not being in successive key frames may bepossible. Tracking the player numbers within successive key frames mayalso provide for stitching or not stitching video clips together.

A video processing module 806 may be used to process video captured byone or more users using video capture devices. The module 806 may beconfigured to format each video from different users and video capturedevices into a common format prior to, during, or after processing thevideo. For example, the video processing module 806 may include afunction that measures a standard sized object, such as a soccer ball,football, base, net, etc., in a video and uses that measurement todetermine scale of the captured content so as to determine othermeasurements, such as distance of a player from a ball, distance of aperson from a goal, or otherwise, so that a user may submit a searchparameter of a player being a certain maximum distance from a ball,goal, basket, etc. That is, if a standard sized object, such as a soccerball, is measured at a 1/10th scale, then other objects and distancesfrom the video can be measured using that scaling.

As the standard sized object moves through multiple frames, where thestandard sized object moves from being close to being farther from acamera, measurements can be made as the object moves to dynamicallydetermine scale and that scale can be dynamically applied to the otherobjects at the different frames. In an alternative embodiment, if thestandard sized object, such as a goal, basket, field markings (e.g.,yard lines), does not move, then dynamic adjustment of the scale isunnecessary within a single video segment. As an example, as a playerbeing tracked moves in a frame, a distance of the player to the soccerball may be dynamically measured and a predetermined distance, such as 8feet, from the soccer ball may define when the player is “in the action”or not. As the player comes within the predetermined distance, then atag may be automatically applied to a video frame and as the playerexits from the predetermined distance, that video frame may be tagged sothat the video segment between the first and second tags may beidentified as the player being “in the action.” In an alternativeembodiment, an indicator may be associated with a frame or set of frameswhere a player meets a criteria, and a user may manually set a tag basedon the criteria having been met or not, the action happening at thattime, or otherwise.

An extract video module 808 may be configured to extract video that hasbeen identified to meet criteria or search parameters set by a user. Theextract video module 808 may be configured to index the video or copyand paste video content that has been identified into a different regionof memory or on a storage unit.

A video management module 810 may be configured to enable a user and/oradministrator to manage video that has been uploaded. The module 810 maybe configured to store video in association with respective useraccounts, tag the video in a manner that allows for correlating videocontent captured from the same sports event, or copy the video that isdetermined to be captured at the same sports event into another regionof memory that includes all video captured from the same respectivesporting events. The video tagging may be automatic, semi-automatic, ormanually tagged, as described with regard to module 820.

A video upload/download module 812 may enable the user to upload anddownload videos from the server. The module 812 may operate inconjunction or be integrated with the module 802. The module 812 may beconfigured to automatically, semi-automatically, or manually enable theuser to upload and download video to and from the server. In oneembodiment, the module 812 may be configured to allow for real-time orsemi-real-time streaming of video to users who request real-timestreaming.

A share video module 814 may enable a user to share a video with otherusers. In one embodiment, sharing the video with other users may providefor sharing the video with friends, family, other users (e.g.,spectators) at a particular game, users within a particular group (e.g.,high school football group), or otherwise. The module 814 may beconfigured to use search parameters from users that are used by thevideo processing module 806 to identify video segments or streams thatinclude video content that match the search parameters, and cause thevideo segments and/or streaming video to be communicated to userssearching for video segments and/or real-time streaming video content.In one embodiment, because the video content is to be processed todetermine if the video content includes one or more search parameters,real-time streaming may include video content that is delayed due toprocessing limitations.

A social media interface module 816 they enable a user to load videocaptured and/or processed by a server onto social media. That is, themodule 816 may enable the user to post video content from the server ishis or her account or processed by the server and available to the userto one or more social networking site of the user or group (e.g., highschool football fan club). In one embodiment, the module 816 may beconfigured to establish temporary (e.g., game), extended (e.g., season),or permanent social media networks for users to participate inrecording, sourcing, requesting, and receiving video content on areal-time or non-real-time basis, as further described herein.

A synchronize videos 818 module may be utilized to enable the system tosynchronize videos from multiple users. In synchronizing the videos formultiple users, if the users are all using an app that is common, thenthat app may utilize a real time clock to synchronize videos beingcaptured by different users by timestamping video segments, relativeclock that is set by a start of the game, or any other technique forsynchronizing videos, including identifying an action (e.g., ball snap,pitch, hit, etc.) within a video and matching the same action inmultiple videos. The synchronize video module 818 may be utilized by thevideo processing module 806.

An apply hashtags module 820 may be configured to automatically,semi-automatically, or manually apply one or more hashtags to a videocontent segment or clip. In applying the hashtags, a server may applytags assigned to the video content segments by users via the applyhashtags module 722, for example, for storage in a data repository.

With regard to FIG. 9, a flow diagram of an illustrative process 900 forprocessing and creating an extracted video with particular parameters isshown. The process 900 may start at step at 902, where a playeridentifier in a sporting event is received. The player identifier may bea number on a uniform or jersey of a player that is playing in thesporting event. At step 904, the player identifier may be identified inthe video of the sporting event. The number and jersey may be in colorto provide for additional identification capabilities. In identifyingthe player identifier in the video, image processing may be utilized toinspect numbers on jerseys of the players throughout a video. In oneembodiment, the image processing may identify specific colors ofjerseys, thereby enabling filtering of players in a manner that avoidsidentifying a player with the same number on the other team. The playeridentifier may also have another parameter that defines the player asbeing in a particular position, such as offense or defense, so that whenan offense of a team is on the field, and the player is on the defense,the video processing may simply skip that segment. It should beunderstood that player numbers and colors may be utilized, but otherunique identifiers and combinations of unique identifiers may beutilized to determine player and team of the player.

At step 906, one or more video segments may be defined from videoinclusive of the player identifier. In identifying the video segments,start and stop times or any other indices that identify video segmentsin which the player identifier is included may be used. At step 908,extracted video inclusive of the one or more video segments may begenerated. The extracted video may be generated by using references toparticular video segments in a single video or multiple videos, or maybe a new video that includes each of the selected video segmentsinclusive of the player identifier. The extracted video may also includetransition video segments between each of the extracted video segmentsthat form the extracted video. At step 910, the extracted video may becaused to be available for replay. In causing the extracted video to beavailable for replay, the video may be available on a mobile device of auser, available on a server accessible by the user via a mobile deviceor other electronic device, written to and stored in a non-transitorystorage medium, such as a disk, tape, or otherwise.

With regard to FIG. 10, a flow diagram of an illustrative process 1000for crowd sourcing video content is shown. The process 1000 may start atstep 1002, where multiple video content segments of a sporting eventfrom video capture devices being operated in an uncoordinated manner maybe received at a central location. In being uncoordinated, the videocapture devices may be operated by users who are not centrallycoordinated by a video production manager using the video to broadcastor for use by a team. The users may be fans, supporters, spectators,family, friends of the team (e.g., coaches), or even part of the team,but overall not coordinated.

At step 1004, a player in one more video segments may be identifiedusing image processing. In identifying the player, a player identifier,such as a player number on his or her uniform, may be identified usingcharacter recognition or other image processing technique. In oneembodiment, if a player is indicated as being on a particular team, ateam jersey may be identified by colors (e.g., white jersey with bluewriting on the jersey). If the player is identified in a video segment,indices, markers, pointers, timestamps, or any other computerimplemented indicator that defines a start and end of the video segmentinclusive of the player may be utilized.

At step 1006 at least a portion of video content segments inclusive ofthe player in the video segments may be extracted. In extracting thevideo, the indices, markers, pointers, timestamps, or other computerimplemented indicator being used to identify a start and end of a videosegment may be stored in an array or other memory configuration. Inresponse to a user requesting to play the video segment(s), theidentified video segments as identified by the indices may be played,while unmarked video segments may be skipped. The video extraction mayalso include identifying one or more tags with video content segments inwhich a player is or is not included, and those tagged video contentsegments may be extracted for inclusion in a video. Alternatively,copies of the marked segments may be copied into a different storage ormemory area so that a new video including the video segments mayassembled into an extracted video.

At step 1008, at least a portion of the video content segments inclusiveof the queried player (i.e., the player matching a submitted identifieras a search parameter) may be enabled for the user to view. In oneembodiment, enabling the video content to be available for a user toview may include enabling the user to view the video content via amobile device or may be written on a non-transitory memory device, suchas a DVD, or downloadable via a website, online store, or otherwise.

With regard to FIG. 11, a flow diagram of an illustrative process 1100used to create a video from video segments is shown. The process 1100may start at step 1102, where video segments or indices that definevideo segments from videos of sporting events may be received. At step1104, video inclusive of the video segments is created. Each of thevideo segments include a player in the video content that meet or aretagged with input search parameters, such as duration of time near aball, performing a certain play, at a certain location, in the videosegment for a certain amount of time, or otherwise. The extracted orcomposite video may be created by including transition segments betweenthe video segments. It should be understood that the creation of a videomay include generating a list of computer pointers, tags, and/ortimestamps that enable a computer to access video content withoutcopying or assembling a new composite video.

With regard to FIGS. 12A and 12B, an illustration of a video capturedevice 1200, such as a smart phone, that includes an electronic display1202 is shown. In FIG. 12A, the video capture device 1200 may utilize aprocessing unit (not shown) to execute an application or user interface(e.g., website) that supports capturing and creating extracted videobased on one or more input search parameters. The video capture device1200 may identify video content inclusive of content that satisfies theinput parameter(s) in generating the extracted video. After capturingvideo, the video capture device 1200 may provide a user with a userinterface 1204 a that enables the user to select a player based on anidentifier, such as a number, on the player's uniform. As shown, a userinterface element 1206 may be selected by the user, and a selectablelist 1208 may provide the user with player numbers identified withinvideo segments captured by the video capture device 1200. Alternatively,rather than listing number limited to players on a team, all numbers0-99 may be available for selection of a number matching a player. Inthis instance, the user selected player number 7.

In FIG. 12B, user interface 1204 b presents two videos that match theuser's input criteria to create an extracted video limited to only thosevideo clips with player number “7.” As shown, (i) extracted video 1210 acreated from only video that the user recorded is available for playingand (ii) extracted video 1210 b that includes video of the player number“7” that was crowd sourced (i.e., video submitted by the user and anyother user at the same game who submitted video for some or all theusers to search with input parameters to create an extracted video).

With regard to FIG. 13, a screenshot of an illustrative user interface1300 is shown. The user interface 1300 provides for a number ofdifferent parameter inputs for the system to use in searching videocontent to identify video segments that satisfy the input parameters. Asshown, an “action” soft-button 1302, “player” soft-button 1304, “playtype” soft-button 1306, “game time” soft-button 1308, “format”soft-button 1310, “segment duration” soft-button 1312, “video feed type”soft-button 1314, “game select” soft-button 1316 are available for auser to select. It should be understood that additional and/oralternative soft-buttons may be provided on the user interface 1300, aswell.

The “action” soft-button 1302 may enable a user to select video segmentsin which action or particular actions are occurring. For example, theuser may be able to select or set a type of action, such as an action inwhich a player is within a certain distance of a ball, front of a race,or otherwise. In selecting actions, pre-established tags may be appliedby crowd edited as described herein and applied to video contentsegments.

The “player” soft-button 1304 enables the user to select a particularplayer on a respective team. For example, the user may select a playernumber on the uniform of a player, such as shown in FIG. 12A. Otherconfigurations for selecting a player may be utilized, includingenabling the user to view a still image from a video and select a playershown in the image using a touchscreen or otherwise.

The “play type” soft-button 1306 may enable a user to request aparticular type of play from a particular type of sport. For example, ifthe sport is baseball, then the user may be able to select with theplayer catches the ball, throws a pitch, is at bat, steals a base, orany other play. Other sports, such as lacrosse, may have different typesof plays, such as scoring a goal, preventing a goal from being scored,making a pass, catching or throwing the ball, or otherwise.

The “game time” soft-button 1308 may be used to enable the user torequest video content that matches game time (e.g., 43:07 minutes),actual time (e.g., 10:18 am), or segment of a game (e.g., 4th quarter).To enact such a search feature, one embodiment may apply actual time orrelative game time to received video content, if known, so that a usermay select specific time frames to identify and extract video segments.

The “format” soft-button 1310 may enable the user to select a particularformat that he or she wants to receive or view and extracted videoinclusive of content that satisfies the input parameters. For example,the format selection may enable downloading to a mobile device, postingto the website, writing onto a tangible memory device, or otherwise.

The “segment durations” soft-button 1312 may enable the user to selectone or more durations of time for each video segment to extend. Forexample, the user may select that only video segments having a minimumof about five seconds (e.g., 4.80 seconds or higher) of desired videocontent be identified and extracted.

The “video feed type” soft-button 1314 may enable a user to select avideo feed type, such as “instant replay” or “live feed.” If, forexample, “instant replay” is selected, then real-time notifications maybe sent and/or video delivery may be communicated to the user of themobile device. An instant replay enables the user to access video, viaeither a pull or push communication mode, being collected from otherusers who are participating in a temporary social network established atthe game or event. As further described herein, the user may also selectto access video content including certain search parameters, forexample, from other games. By being able to access video so that aparent with two or more children playing in different games at differentlocations can see instant replays (or real-time streaming) of theirchildren when identified using search parameters by a search system.

The “game select” soft-button 1316 may enable to search for and/orselect games that are being played in a local area or more broadly inother geographic areas. The search may include the system providing alist of selectable games that are geographically sorted, alphabeticallysorted, game start sorted, or keyword searchable, as understood in theart.

With regard to FIG. 14A, an illustration of a video capture device orother electronic device 1400 may be configured to display a graphicaluser interface 1402. The video capture device 1400 is to be wirelesslynetworked to a remote server configured to receive, process, andcommunicate video. The graphical user interface 1402 may be generated byan application or mobile app being executed by the video capture device1400 or be driven by a remote electronic device, such as a server via acommunications network (e.g., mobile network, Internet, and/or local viaa wireless communications link that is local to a sports playing fieldat which the user operating the video capture device 1400 is located).

The graphical user interface 1402 includes a selection soft-button 1404to select a video feed type, such as “instant replay.” A user may selectthe soft-button 1404 to select another type of video feed, such as “livestream.”

A “current game” soft-button 1406 may show a current game or event beingpresented in the user interface 1402, and may be selectable to enablethe user to select another game from which to receive instant replayvideo segments. A “location” soft-button 1408 may show a currentlocation at which the game is being played. The soft-button 1408 may beselectable to enable the user to select other locations of games fromwhich to select.

A table 1410 of available and selectable video segment links 1412 a-1412n (collectively 1412) is shown. The video segment links 1412 may behyperlinks and used to send a request to download respective videocontent. In one embodiment, the links 1412 may include thumbnail orother images associated therewith. The table 1410 may include a numberof different fields, including player 1414 a, team 1414 b, location 1414c, time 1414 d, and video segment length 1414 e. It should be understoodthat alternative and/or additional fields associated with video segmentsmay be available, as well. As shown, the table 1410 is sorted by playernumber. It should be understood that the table 1410 may be sorted by anyof the other fields or combination of fields (e.g., player 1414 a first,video segment length 1414 e second). As shown, the location providesspecific location of a user at the game. As an example, a user may belocated on the home team side, 50 yard line, at the sideline.Alternatively, the user may be located on the away team side, 30 yardline, in the stands. More granular location information may also beavailable, such as north side of the 50 yard line, south side of the 50yard line, row number, section number, or any other location identifieror descriptor.

In one embodiment, when a user checks into a game, which may be set upas a temporary social media event, the user may be provided with anumber of different input parameters that he or she may enter or selectto identify his or her specific location at the game so that other usersat the game or remotely located from the game can know where the user islocated when recording the video. Alternatively, image processing may beutilized to automatically determine location and/or angle of a userrelative to a field or other sports venue (e.g., determine alignmentrelative to 50-yard line). As shown, each video segment identifiedincludes a player number that is identified within the video segment. Ifmultiple players are identified within a video segment, then multiplelistings for the same video segment may be shown, but associated withdifferent players. By presenting the data in this matter, a user mayselect a single player to view and filter out other players or have theability to see all players and what video segments are available fromdifferent angles including different start times and having differentvideo segment lengths. Rather than all of the available video segmentsbeing listed, the user may establish a filter to limit the listing onlyto those video segments that meet search parameters. In one embodiment,the video content segments may be listed according to angle versus timefor a user to select desired video content segments.

Because the table 1410 is meant to provide users or spectators withinstant replays, the video segments may be processed in real-time andposted in real-time to be available for selection by the users so thatthe user may watch the instant replay video segments at an appropriatetime (e.g., just after a play occurred or during a referee meeting todetermine whether a call was correct). The list 1410 may be ordered in atime sequential order so that past plays may also be available forwatching. In response to a user selecting one of the video segment links1412, such as video segment link 1412 c, the user interface 1402 maytransition into a video player, such as that shown in FIG. 14C. In oneembodiment, a video segment may be recorded or converted to be slowmotion or fast motion and an identifier indicative of that video formatmay be listed in association with the video segments.

With regard to FIG. 14B, an illustration of the video recording device1400 is showing to be displaying a user interface 1402 b, where the userhas selectably changed the view from an “instant replay” view to a “livestreaming” view by selecting the video feed type soft-button 1404. Theuser interface 1402 b enables the user to select search parameters, suchas those shown in table 1416, where the user may select and enter aplayer, team, play/action, and delivery. As shown, the user has enteredtwo sets of search parameters 1418 a and 1418 b. In the first set ofsearch parameters 1418 a, the user has selected player number “6,” teamname, action type of where the player is 10 feet or less from the ball,and video delivery, where a notification delivery may include displayinga video segment that matches the search parameters to be posted to alist for the user to view or any other type of message notification thatenables the user to select and download video content, as understood inthe art. If the user selects an automatic delivery, then in response toa particular set of search parameters occurring and being identified asoccurring, then a video segment that matches the search parameter may beautomatically in a list, streamed, or otherwise delivered to the videorecording device 1400. In one embodiment, the video segments mayautomatically be displayed on the video recording device, such as in avideo viewer as provided in FIG. 14C. Another list 1420 may enable auser to select from a set of live streaming sources 1422 a-1422 c thatlists locations 1424 a, users 1424 b, and camera types 1424 c from whichto select by a user.

With regard to FIG. 14C, is an illustration of the video recordingdevice 1400 presenting the user interface 1402 c, where the userinterface 1402 c includes a video display region 1426 for video contentto be displayed. The user interface 1402 c may include a “live stream”soft-button 1428 a and “instant replay” soft-button 1428 b that may beselectable by the user to select whether he or she wants to watch livestreaming or an instant replay, respectively. A “record” soft-button1428 c may enable a user to start recording new video content withouthaving to leave the user interface 1402 c.

In one embodiment, currently set search parameters 1430 may be displayedand selectable for the user to alter the search parameters 1430. Forexample, the user may be able to select a player search parameter 1432 ato change player number, team search parameter 1432 b for the user tochange teams, and play/action search parameter 1432 c to change the playor action search parameter. It should be understood that additionaland/or alternative search parameters, such as tags, may be displayed ordisplayable for the user to view and alter, as desired. A source datafield 1434 may display a current source from which video being displayedin the video display region 1426 is being viewed. The user may selectthe source data field 1434 to select a different source of video contentto be displayed in the video display region 1426. For the live streaming1428 a, data that is being collected from any video capturing device atthe game using an application that is set up for a temporary socialnetwork may communicate data being captured via a communications networkto a server that collects, processes, and distributes the video contentto the video capturing devices, and are part of the temporary socialnetwork in a real-time manner. With further regard to FIG. 2, in theevent that the user has set up a live stream delivery, then the server206 may communicate the live stream 210 for distribution to videocapture devices 106 that request the live stream of any other videocapture device 106. It should be understood that the live stream may beoperative without having a search parameter being met, but ratheroperate more as a peer-to-peer communication where one fan is able tosee a video feed from another fan. In one embodiment, a verificationprocess may be used to confirm that the video feed is being sourced froma playing field, where a playing field may be any area at which asporting event is played, such as a pool, basketball court, track,football field, etc. The confirmation of the video feed being sourcedfrom a playing field may include identifying at least one feature of aplaying field, such as grass, to avoid a fan distributing undesirablevideo content to another fan. Moreover, one embodiment may include ahuman curator or editor to review video content prior to distribution ofthe video content.

In the event that the user has selected the “instant replay” soft-button1428 b, content that is displayed or displayable in the video displayregion 1426 may not be streamed, but rather downloadable and pushed tothe device 1400 for selection, unless requested to be automaticallydisplayed, as described with regard to FIG. 14B, and viewed.

The system may be configured to establish certain relationships betweena player and activity. For example, the system may be configured toautomatically identify and tag when the player is (i) a certain distancefrom a ball (e.g., soccer ball), (ii) in a particular stance (e.g., in abatting stance, on the ground (in the case of a slide tackle insoccer)), (iii) traveling at a certain speed (e.g., for race car drivingor other sports in which speed is a factor), (iv) in a particularposition (e.g., off the ground, near a basket, near a goal, in a crease,near another player, near a sideline, in a batter's box), (v) in a scenefor a certain period of time (e.g., 5 seconds), (vi) at a certaindistance from a camera, or otherwise so that specific actions by theplayer or other criteria can be searched. Alternatively, and asdescribed herein, crowd edited tagging of video content segments may beperformed in a manual and/or semi-automatic manner (e.g., computerperforms a first pass or filtering and user confirms or modifies tags).

In recording the video, standard video cameras, mobile imaging devices(e.g., mobile phones, tablets, GoPro cameras, etc.) may be used and thevideo footage may be accessed by an editing/playback system capable ofbeing executed on cameras to perform the various identificationfunctions described above. Alternatively, the video footage may beloaded into separate or remote (e.g., on a server via a communicationsnetwork) system that executes a software system that processes the imagedata independent of the video cameras. In the case of the softwaresystem being resident on the camera, tagging or identification of thespecific players in captured video may be performed in real-time.Alternatively, the tagging or identification of the specific players inthe captured video may be performed post-video capture.

For capturing the video, one or more cameras may be used. If multiplecameras are used, the cameras may be synched, or software being executedby both cameras may be remotely synched, such that real-time or relativetime between the cameras may be established. In the case of usingreal-time, real-time clock data may be recorded and associated with oneor more video frames so that video from different camera angles may becollected and available to a user who wants to watch a player fromdifferent angles. For example, in the case of football, cameras may beplaced on opposing goal posts and at an announcers' box. Handheldcameras, including mobile devices, may also be used. Because only one ofthe goal post cameras will capture the number of the player at eachlineup in which the player participates, the other two camera angles maynever capture the number of the player, and the software system may notbe able to tag or identify the video frames in which the player isparticipating. However, because video from one of the multiple camerasis able to be used to identify that the player is in the scene and thevideos can be synched (at least the times at which the videos arecaptured can be identified), then the video captured from each of thecameras may be tagged or identified as containing the player. In analternative embodiment, the cameras may simply be cameras used by fans,and video content may be uploaded to a system that identifies players bynumbers on their uniforms and uses tracking software, as understood inthe art, to track the players.

If multiple cameras are used to capture video from different videoangles, a user may select a video that provides for the best image ofthe unique identifier (e.g., player number), such as a complete numberover a partial number. The selected video can be used in identifying theplayer. If the videos are synched, then the system may automaticallyidentify the same player in each of the different videos from thedifferent angles. In one embodiment, the system may be automated toidentify the video with the best view of the player identifier.

In an embodiment, a system may create a set of video playable segmentsin which a player's number is identified (e.g., at the start of a playor video segment in which the player appears) using characterrecognition. The set of video segments may be thumbnails that may beselected using touch or other features to enable the user to view thevideo segments. In addition, the video segments may be formed into asingle video with or without transition segments (e.g., fade-to-black)between the video segments. An editing system may also enable a user tosimply drag, select, or otherwise cause the video segment or aselectable portion thereof to be inserted into or at the end of acontinuous video using video editing techniques, as understood in theart. In an alternative embodiment, the system may be automated andfollow input parameters for content to comply, and, if so, thesteadiest, longest, brightest, clearest, sharpest, or other imageparameters may establish which video segment from multiple videosegments of the same play at different angles should be selected. Thevideo segments may be associated with actual time and/or game time.

In an embodiment, the system may enable a user to select a zoom levelfor video inclusive of a player wearing a selected unique identifier.The zoom level may be selected from multiple, predetermined selectablezoom levels. Alternatively, a dynamic zoom level may be set by a user,and the system may maintain that zoom level.

In another embodiment, the system may enable a user to select a cropdistance surrounding a player wearing a selected unique identifier. Thecrop distance may be selected from multiple, predetermined selectablecrop distances. Alternatively, a dynamic crop distance may be set by auser, and the system may maintain that crop distance surrounding theplayer.

Access to the video system may be via the camera (if configured with thevideo processing system), cloud via a website, or local computer. Thesoftware may be native or a downloadable app.

With regard to FIG. 15, a screenshot of an illustrative user interface1500 for a coach to sign-up and select a roster for the team is shown.The user interface 1500 is shown to include a “select roster” window1502, in which a coach of a team may perform a search to search a datarepository for a player name or team name to identify players to includeon a team roster. A team roster 1506 may be shown as the coachidentifies players on a team. As an example, a player item 1508 includesa player name 1510, player number 1512, player position 1514, andselectable photo element 1516 in which the coach may select and enter aphoto of the player. In one embodiment, the coach may select and/orenter the player number and player position using the user interface1500. As shown, the select roster window 1502 may enable the coach tocancel select in the roster using a cancel soft-button 1518 or select a“done” soft-button 1520 upon completion of selecting the roster.

With regard to FIG. 16, a screenshot of an illustrative user interface1600 for a player to sign-up and select or submit player information,including jersey number and team name via respective user interfaceinput elements 1602 and 1604 is shown. The player or athlete may electto skip submitting the information using a “skip” soft-button 1606 orsubmit the information by selecting a “done” soft-button 1608 within awindow or region 1610.

With regard to FIG. 17, a screenshot of an illustrative user interface1700 for a fan or other user to sign-up and select player(s) to followis shown. The user interface may include a text entry box 1702 for auser to enter a player name or team to cause a list 1704 of players tobe displayed. Rather than using a text entry box 1702, other graphicaluser interface element(s) may be provided to the fan to locate a playeror list of players. Each player record may include a player name 1706,player number 1708 on the player's jersey, position 1710 of the player,team 1712 of the player, photo 1714 of the player, and “follow”soft-button 1716 for the user to selectively follow the respectiveplayer. The user interface 1700 may also provide a “skip” soft-button1718 to enable the user not to follow any players and “done” soft-button1720 to enable the user to initiate following the selected players. Inone embodiment, the “follow” soft-button may change colors or names(e.g., “following,” “stop following,” etc.).

With regard to FIG. 18A, a screen shot of an illustrative user interface1800 a inclusive of illustrative video feeds 1802 a and 1802 b are shownto enable a user to view one or more videos of a player captured duringa sporting event are shown. The video feeds 1802 may be real-time ornon-real-time videos that are available for a user to view. The userinterface 1800 includes an information section 1804 that showsinformation 1806, including player number, player name, time of videocapture, photo of player, etc. Additional information 1808 may includeteam names and game (e.g., names of teams playing one another), locationof game or event, etc. Control elements 1810 may provide for a playvideo soft-button, time of video, add video soft-button, and so on.

With regard to FIG. 18B, a screen shot of an illustrative user interface1800 b inclusive of the video feeds 1802 a and 1802 b of FIG. 18A areshown. An “add to favorites” soft-button 1812 allows for a user to addthe video feed 1802 a to a favorite video list. An “add hashtags”soft-button 1814 enables a user to add hashtag(s) to the video in thevideo feed 1802 a. A “share with friends” soft-button 1816 enables theuser to share the video with friends or family of the user. The videofeed may include other conventional controls, including time controlelement 1818, full screen control element 1820, and zoom control element1822. Other control elements may be provided to a user, as well.

With regard to FIG. 19, a screen shot of an illustrative user interface1900 that enables a user to assign one or more hashtags to a videosegment or clip is shown. A list of hashtag soft-buttons 1902 is shownto have respective hashtags 1904 a-1904 m (collectively 1904) that maybe assigned to a video segment may be specific actions performed duringa soccer game. It should be understood that the list 1902 mayalternatively be defined with hashtags for any sport or activity. Asshown, the hashtags 1904 may include “goal,” “assist,” “shot,” “save,”“tackle,” “foul,” “free kick,” “penalty,” “corner,” “header,” “cross,”“volley,” and “add other.” By assigning one or more of the hashtags 1904to the video, users may search for one or more hashtags, and one or moreplayers, to identify videos of interest. Each user may assign one ormore hashtags to a video segment such that a combination of the uniquehashtags define each of the actions or items in the video segment. Thehashtags assigned by each of the users may be a subset of a complete setof hashtags formed by a combination of unique hashtags assigned by allof the users.

The user interface 1900 may also including a name of a game 1906associated with the video segment, cancel soft-button 1908, and “done”soft-button 1910 to accept the assignment(s) of the hashtag(s) 1904 tothe video segment. Assigning hashtags by users operates as a crowdediting function in that one or more viewers may assign the hashtags tovideo segments collected by users, thereby enabling users to collectvideo of players at a sporting event and each of the users to accessvideo from each of the participating users.

With regard to FIG. 20A, a screen shot of an illustrative user interface2000 a is shown to enable a user to create an event, such as a soccergame. The user may be a coach, parent, fan, spectator, organizer, orotherwise. The event may be any event type established for creation byan operator of the system. As shown, the user interface 2000 a mayinclude a “home team” selection element 2002, “away team” selectionelement 2004, “location” selection element 2006, and “date” selectionelement 2008. Selection of the selection elements 2002 and 2004 mayprovide for a user interface 2000 b with a list of teams 2012 (FIG. 20B)and user interface 2000 c with a list of teams 2014 (FIG. 20C) availablefor selection of home and away teams, respectively, by the user.Alternative listings, such as locations (e.g., towns, schools, etc.)league(s), from which the user may browse to find the home and awayteams may be provided, as well. A selection of the “location” selectionelement 2006 may enable the user to select from a list of locations. Inone embodiment, a GPS location of a mobile device on which the userinterface 2000 a is being executed may provide a reduced list oflocations (e.g., fields) at which games may be available for selection.A user interface 2000 d is shown to include a list of locations 2016 atwhich an event is to be held may be available for selection. The userinterface 2000 d may also include a text entry field 2018 may enable auser to enter a location to narrow a search for the location of theevent. Once the event items are selected, as shown on the user interface2000 e in FIG. 20E, the user may select a “save” soft-button 2010 forentry of the event. The event may be selected by the user and otherusers for interfacing with the system thereafter. As shown in FIG. 20F,a user interface 2000 f may display a message 2020 that notifies theuser that the event has been added, and the user may select an “addvideo” soft-button 2022 to add a video from the event or “skip”soft-button 2024 to skip adding video at the event. It should beunderstood that a variety of different information may be presentedbased on the event type or other factor.

With regard to FIG. 21A, a screenshot of an illustrative user interface2100 may provide for a user to browse content collected at one or moreevents by selecting an “athletes” soft-button 2102 a, “videos”soft-button 2102 b, and “hashtags” soft-button 2102 c is shown.Selection of the “athletes” soft-button 2102 a may cause a list ofathletes 2104 from which the user may select to follow one or moreathletes 2106 by pressing a “follow” soft-button from a correspondinglist of soft-buttons 2108. As shown in FIG. 21B, responsive to a userselecting the “videos” soft-button 2102 b, a user interface 2100 b mayinclude a list of video segments 2110 may be displayed for a user toreview and select individual video segment(s). As shown in FIG. 21C,responsive to a user selecting the “hashtags” soft-button 2102 c, a userinterface 2100 c may include a list of available hashtags 2112 andnumber of video segments or clips having respective hashtags associatedtherewith. As an example, a #Touchdown hashtag has 530 videos associatedtherewith. More detailed search parameters may help to narrow down thevideos inclusive of the #Touchdown hashtag.

With regard to FIGS. 22A-22C, user interfaces 2200 a-2200 c may providefor searching for videos are shown. In FIG. 22A, the user interface 2200a may include a list of videos 2202 associated with a particular player.The list of videos 2202 may include all videos of the player from one ormore sporting events. A “follow” soft-button 2204 may enable the user tofollow the player. In FIG. 22B, the user interface 2200 b may include alist of videos 2206 inclusive of one or more players and having aparticular hashtag, in this case #touchdown, associated therewith. InFIG. 22C, the user interface 2200 c may provide for a search so that theuser may search for videos that are associated with a particular playerand hashtag, for example, and a list of videos 2208 may be displayed inresponse to a search.

With regard to FIG. 23, a user interface 2300 may provide for a videoediting environment in which video clips taken by different users atdifferent angles may be listed along a first axis 2302 y and time of thevideo clips may be along a second axis 2302 x is shown. The differentusers that collect the video clips may be located around a sportingevent, for example. In one embodiment, the user may enter a locationrelative to a field (e.g., home team side, 30 yard line), and thelocation may be used for positioning relative to other video clipscollected from a sporting event, in this case the Oakland Riders vsGolden State Warriors game. A first composite video 2304 is shown to beassembled from multiple video clips 2306, in this case three videoclips. The composite video 2304 has associated information 2308,including number of players, number of tags, duration, and number ofvideo clips. Available video clips 2310 that meet a search criteria(e.g., player number(s), hashtag(s), or otherwise) may be listed andavailable for a user to select to include in a composite or extractedvideo. By providing for each of the video clips with crowd sourced tags,a user may be able to identify and select video content in a fast andeasy manner and at angles not possible for a single user to obtain.Various video editing functions, such as clipping, zooming,transitioning, etc., as understood in the art, may be provided, as well.In one embodiment, the editing deck may be automated so that the user isable to receive a composite video without having to perform customselection or editing.

The foregoing method descriptions and the process flow diagrams areprovided merely as illustrative examples and are not intended to requireor imply that the steps of the various embodiments must be performed inthe order presented. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the artthe steps in the foregoing embodiments may be performed in any order.Words such as “then,” “next,” etc. are not intended to limit the orderof the steps; these words are simply used to guide the reader throughthe description of the methods. Although process flow diagrams maydescribe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operationsmay be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order ofthe operations may be re-arranged. A process may correspond to a method,a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a processcorresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to a return ofthe function to the calling function or the main function.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, andalgorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosedhere may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, orcombinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms oftheir functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented ashardware or software depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans mayimplement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the presentinvention.

Embodiments implemented in computer software may be implemented insoftware, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware descriptionlanguages, or any combination thereof. A code segment ormachine-executable instructions may represent a procedure, a function, asubprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a softwarepackage, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures,or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another codesegment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information,data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments,parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via anysuitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing,network transmission, etc.

The actual software code or specialized control hardware used toimplement these systems and methods is not limiting of the invention.Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and methods weredescribed without reference to the specific software code beingunderstood that software and control hardware can be designed toimplement the systems and methods based on the description here.

When implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or moreinstructions or code on a non-transitory computer-readable orprocessor-readable storage medium. The steps of a method or algorithmdisclosed here may be embodied in a processor-executable software modulewhich may reside on a computer-readable or processor-readable storagemedium. A non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable mediaincludes both computer storage media and tangible storage media thatfacilitate transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Anon-transitory processor-readable storage media may be any availablemedia that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such non-transitory processor-readable media may compriseRAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other tangible storagemedium that may be used to store desired program code in the form ofinstructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computeror processor. Disk and disc, as used here, include compact disc (CD),laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, andBlu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, whilediscs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as oneor any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on anon-transitory processor-readable medium and/or computer-readablemedium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

When implemented in hardware, the functionality may be implementedwithin circuitry of a wireless signal processing circuit that may besuitable for use in a wireless receiver or mobile device. Such awireless signal processing circuit may include circuits foraccomplishing the signal measuring and calculating steps described inthe various embodiments.

The hardware used to implement the various illustrative logics, logicalblocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspectsdisclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purposeprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) orother programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic,discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed toperform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor maybe a microprocessor, but, in the alternative, the processor may be anyconventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. Aprocessor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices,e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration. Alternatively, some steps ormethods may be performed by circuitry that is specific to a givenfunction.

Any reference to claim elements in the singular, for example, using thearticles “a,” “an” or “the,” is not to be construed as limiting theelement to the singular.

The preceding description of the disclosed embodiments is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to make or use the presentinvention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to beaccorded the widest scope consistent with the following claims and theprinciples and novel features disclosed herein.

What is claimed:
 1. A system for processing video of a sporting event,said system comprising: an input/output unit configured to communicateover a communications network and receive image data; a storage unitconfigured to store image data captured by a plurality of users of asingle event; and a processing unit in communication with saidinput/output unit and said storage unit, said processing unit configuredto: receive image data being captured real-time from an electronicdevice, the image data being portions of complete image data of unknownlength while being captured by the electronic device; process the imagedata portions to identify at least one unique identifier associated witha player in the sporting event; stitch successive video segmentstogether; repeat receiving, processing, and stitching of the image datauntil an end of video identifier is received; and store the completedstitched video in said storage unit for processing.
 2. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein said processing unit, in receiving theimage data, is configured to receive image data of the sporting eventfrom a plurality of video capture devices at the sporting event.
 3. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit is furtherconfigured to associate one or more hashtags with at least a portion ofthe stitched video, the hashtags being indicative of respective eventsthat occur in the associated video segments.
 4. The system according toclaim 3, wherein said processing unit is further configured to enable auser to request at least a portion of the stitched video having one ormore hashtag associated therewith.
 5. The system according to claim 1,wherein said processing unit is further configured to synchronize imagedata captured from different video cameras of the sporting event.
 6. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit, in receivingthe image data of the sporting event, is further configured to: receivethe image data of the sporting event from multiple camera angles; enablea user to select a stitched video from a camera angle with a desiredimage of a unique identifier associated with a respective player; andcommunicate the stitched video from the camera angle with the desiredimage of the unique identifier with a respective player to the user. 7.A method for processing video of a sporting event, said methodcomprising: receiving image data being captured real-time from anelectronic device, the image data being portions of complete image dataof unknown length while being captured by the electronic device;processing the image data portions to identify at least one uniqueidentifier associated with a player in the sporting event; stitchingsuccessive video segments together; repeating receiving, processing, andstitching of the image data until an end of video identifier isreceived; and storing the completed stitched video for processing. 8.The method according to claim 7, wherein receiving the image dataincludes receiving image data of the sporting event from a plurality ofvideo capture devices at the sporting event.
 9. The method according toclaim 7, further comprising associating one or more hashtags with atleast a portion of the stitched video, the hashtags being indicative ofrespective events that occur in the associated video segments.
 10. Themethod according to claim 9, further comprising enabling a user torequest at least a portion of the stitched video having one or morehashtag associated therewith.
 11. The method according to claim 7,further comprising synchronizing image data captured from differentvideo cameras of the sporting event.
 12. The method according to claim7, wherein receiving the image data of the sporting event includes:receiving the image data of the sporting event from multiple cameraangles; enabling a user to select a stitched video from a camera anglewith a desired image of a unique identifier associated with a respectiveplayer; and communicating the stitched video from the camera angle withthe desired image of the unique identifier with a respective player tothe user.